I was selling programmes there. Once I had god rid of my allocation the day was mine and I started to head for the front of the stage. I was still quite a way back when Clapton came on but I managed to get nearer as people went for beer, took toilet breaks, etc. It was a bit of a nightmare but at least it didn't rain. BTW, I was doing an illustration course at the time and one of the guys wives worked for the people doing the merchandising and they asked us if we wanted to do the gig. They said they would supply accommodation, four of us went...and spent the night in the back of a Hertz Rent-a-van with no bedding. A great introduction to Bob Dylan!

I was there, still the only time I've seen Bob. I remember all the cars heading down there, many with handwritten signs in the windows, with Dylan lyrics etc. (Ours read "Obviously Four Believers"). As the show progressed, I scribbled the setlist down on my programme. [img]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180304/e11fbfb2eccfb9007775d07ca724cf77.jpg[/img]

I was there, still the only time I've seen Bob. I remember all the cars heading down there, many with handwritten signs in the windows, with Dylan lyrics etc. (Ours read "Obviously Four Believers"). As the show progressed, I scribbled the setlist down on my programme.

I was there, still the only time I've seen Bob. I remember all the cars heading down there, many with handwritten signs in the windows, with Dylan lyrics etc. (Ours read "Obviously Four Believers"). As the show progressed, I scribbled the setlist down on my programme.

You lucky sod Did you see Clapton? What did he play?

I thought Clapton's set was pretty good. Think it was the band that played on 461 Ocean Boulevard. As much as I like EC I think that these days he's just going through the motions.

I thought Clapton's set was pretty good. Think it was the band that played on 461 Ocean Boulevard. As much as I like EC I think that these days he's just going through the motions.

Some days I do believe Clapton is, or was, God. Other days I could take him or leave him. As a songwriter he's meh, as a singer not much there, but you cant argue with a Clapton solo any day of the week.

I was there, still the only time I've seen Bob. I remember all the cars heading down there, many with handwritten signs in the windows, with Dylan lyrics etc. (Ours read "Obviously Four Believers"). As the show progressed, I scribbled the setlist down on my programme.

Clapton played pretty well, but unfortunately, while watching the next act (Joan Armatrading) and most of Dylan's set from the wings, he drank an entire bottle of brandy. So when Bob brought him out to play on 'Forever Young', he was very, very drunk (by his own account, he very nearly fell off tbe stage). Still managed to play his solos pretty well though, as the records attest.

Clapton played pretty well, but unfortunately, while watching the next act (Joan Armatrading) and most of Dylan's set from the wings, he drank an entire bottle of brandy. So when Bob brought him out to play on 'Forever Young', he was very, very drunk (by his own account, he very nearly fell off tbe stage). Still managed to play his solos pretty well though, as the records attest.

Which account is this? And does it contain any info on any other Dylan/Clapton interactions?

Clapton played pretty well, but unfortunately, while watching the next act (Joan Armatrading) and most of Dylan's set from the wings, he drank an entire bottle of brandy. So when Bob brought him out to play on 'Forever Young', he was very, very drunk (by his own account, he very nearly fell off tbe stage). Still managed to play his solos pretty well though, as the records attest.

Which account is this? And does it contain any info on any other Dylan/Clapton interactions?

I just remember Clapton talking about it in an interview, years ago. It was during the period when he had successfully kicked heroin addiction, but unfortunately replaced it with alcoholism.

Some days I do believe Clapton is, or was, God. Other days I could take him or leave him. As a songwriter he's meh, as a singer not much there, but you cant argue with a Clapton solo any day of the week.

The last couple of times I saw him at the Royal Albert Hall he's been pretty forgetable, he was only rescued in 2017 by having Doyle Bramhall II as a guest guitarist. He now seems to stick to a 'tried and tested' set where he always plays the acoustic Layla, has to play Wonderful Tonight for the ladies and sticks with Tears In Heaven which wears a bit thin after a couple of listens. In 2015 he even atempted to play a Blind Faith song, I think it was 'Can't Find My Way Home' with Nathan East doing the Steve Winwood vocals. Awful. The items that rescue the set are the guitar solo he tags on to I Shot The Sherrif, Cocaine and a couple of blues numbers. Including his appearances with Cream (I was at the farewell show) and at Blackbushe I've seen him some 17 times and the last show ranks as the worst. I didn't even have to think twice about standing in a field (Hyde Park) to see him - even though Carlos Santana and Steve Winwood are on the bill.

This is the review of EC's show I wrote shortly after seeing him last year:26 May 2017. The good news is that I enjoyed Eric's performance last night much more than I did the last time I saw him. Hard to explain why as he still did the acoustic Layla (I was hoping he'd surprise himself and do the electric version or discard it!!). He still feels he has to play Tears In Heaven and Wonderful Tonight. He should take a leaf out of Dylan's book and not give the audience what they want, well not all the time! At least he'd dropped the Blind Faith song sung by Nathan East, as I said before - if Steve Winwood can't be there - forget it. Doyle Bramhall II was the support and he came on stage for the last four numbers of Eric's set. Shame he wasn't there from the start! Eric's good with a second guitarist as a foil, someone to duel with and trade licks with. Excellent stuff, this time around I was hoping he would do a couple more numbers, last time I couldn't wait to get out. As I say, an improvement and I'm glad that he's recovered from the illness that some of the tabloids picked up on a couple of months ago.

I always found 'Wonderful Tonight' rather tiresome (dvdunplugged's "one for the ladies" comment is on the money), but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Blackbushe version - it had a lot more 'bite' (particularly on the guitar licks) than the studio recording.

I always found 'Wonderful Tonight' rather tiresome (dvdunplugged's "one for the ladies" comment is on the money), but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the Blackbushe version - it had a lot more 'bite' (particularly on the guitar licks) than the studio recording.

I really don't remember it at Blackbushe but do remember when it wasn't so laid back and irksome!

Nice article in this months 'Uncut' magazine on Dylan's outdoor gig in Surrey in July 1978. It says in the magazine it was and still is the biggest single audience Dylan has ever played to ( 200,000 +). [/img]

We've discussed E.C. in some depth but I was wondering if anyone remembers the performances by Joan Armatrading or Graham Parker? Graham Parker was the artist of the moment really, I remember he had an album out called Heat Treatment but I sadly missed his performance at the show. I think I was in the artists services are using my 'Dinner Voucher' at the time.

I seem to recall Clinton Heylin saying at a Dylan convention a few years ago that not only was Blackbushe professionally recorded, but he has heard it, and it's one of Dylan's finest live performances...!

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